Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), met in London
Tuesday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, saying China is
satisfied with the smooth development of Sino-British ties.
During the meeting in 10 Downing Street, Jia, leader of China's
top advisory body, said China and Britain have conducted smooth
dialogue in various levels, strengthened political trust, found
more common interests in many fields, and gained new results of
cooperation in all areas.
China has attached great importance to the development of
relations with Britain and is satisfied with the smooth development
of Sino-British relationship, Jia said.
China is also willing to make concerted efforts with Britain to
realize those important agreements between leaders of the two
countries and try to push forward the comprehensive strategic
partnership between China and Britain to a higher level.
Noting that China has played more and more important role in
international affairs since it has gained unprecedented strength,
Blair said keeping a good British-Chinese relationship is very
important for Britain.
Since China recovered the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong
in 1997, Blair said, leaders of Britain and China have kept close
contacts, bilateral ties have developed greatly, and scope of
cooperation has been broadened.
Britain will continue to make contributions to the development
of British-Chinese relations, he said.
Britain is the first leg of Jia's four-nation Europe tour from
October 22 to November 3, which will also take him to Lithuania,
Estonia and Ukraine.
(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2006)
